MacShack is one big pasta-lover’s paradise

There’s something about a warm bowl of pasta that universally conveys comfort. In its most basic form, pasta is something even a person with the pickiest of palates can enjoy... especially children. Remember being a kid and liking only three things? I bet one of them was macaroni and cheese.

The MacShack, 8680 W. Warm Springs Road, takes this childhood favorite up a notch. You can keep things simple with a hearty bowl of Cheddar Mac (elbow macaroni with sauce made from Wisconsin cheddar, aged white cheddar and Monterey Jack) or get more adventurous with Asiago Blue Mac (Asiago, blue cheese and Pecorino Romano cheese topped with blue cheese crumbles). Due to the fast-casual nature of the restaurant (think Chipotle with pasta bowls instead of burritos, although at MacShack, they bring your food to your table), the macaroni cheese is sauce-based rather than baked. Although I prefer my mac and cheese toasty from the oven, I found the MacShack’s Cheddar Mac to be pretty tasty.

If you really want to keep it simple, the create-your-own pasta menu offers 15 different pastas (including whole wheat and gluten-free for the health conscious and/or diet restricted) and seven signature sauces (ranging from basic garlic and oil or marinara to roasted pepper or broccoli pesto), which you can combine for $6, or further customize by adding ingredients (50 cents each) and a protein ($1.50 each).

If you’re feeling indecisive, the MacShack has some suggestions. Mac’s Favs include Crazy Alfredo, which lives up to its name with the unique combination of chicken, sausage, shrimp, roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms and jalapenos in a cream sauce over fettucine, and Farm House (ham, prosciutto, peas and egg with a cream sauce over bow-tie pasta). My dining companion Cassandra tried the Red Rigatoni (roasted red peppers, sausage and meatballs over rigatoni) and gave it high marks, although she found the MacShack’s atmosphere to be a little too corporate (plenty of steel and slick art), which seems to clash a bit with the comforting nature of the food.

A nice touch is the MacShack’s use of real silverware and red or white wine available in –– you guessed it –– actual wine glasses. Domestic and imported beer also is available.

And if you don’t dig pasta (although this begs the question: What are you doing in a place called the MacShack?), the menu also has a selection of salads, soups and melts.

Here’s an idea: How about some desserts? A little spumoni would have rounded out this meal nicely.

The MacShack is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. For more information, visit macaronishack.com or call 463-2433.